Delphi Value Investments Blog: January 2017

Friday, January 13, 2017

Interesting Articles From the Week

It has been far too long since I have posted anything! The end and beginning of the year is rather hectic in this business so I have done far less reading and researching than normal. But here are some interesting things that I came across recently.

National Western Stock Show Citizen of the West John Malone

We have investments in some of Malone's companies and I find him to be one the most savvy businessmen in the world. But also a very high quality person!

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/08/national-western-stock-show-citizen-of-the-west-john-malone/

Peter Thiel Explains Himself

He's a Trump supporter from Silicon Valley. And before the election was nearly the only supporter from that area.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/fashion/peter-thiel-donald-trump-silicon-valley-technology-gawker.html?action=click&contentCollection=Fashion%20%26%20Style&module=RelatedCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article

Apple Sets Its Sights on Hollywood With Plans for Original Content

This makes sense to me. It is a big market and would hopefully give them a profit center away from the iPhone.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-sets-its-sights-on-hollywood-with-plans-for-original-content-1484217007

Warren Buffett Predicted Fall of Eddie Lampert and Sears

Retailing is tough...

http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-predicted-fall-of-eddie-lampert-sears-in-2005-2016-12

Hank Paulson Interview at Stanford Business School

Very good interview. In particular I enjoyed the part about him and his wife and how they have grown together in life. (39:43)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTGybnPatQk&t=22s

Have a great weekend!

What to expect:

This blog is a place to talk about things we think are relevant and interesting in the investing world. At no time are we making any recommendations about buying or selling a security (Stock, bonds, options, etc.).

Our posts may concern trends, popular news stories, investment ideas, and a little bit of education on the investing process. We will try to post something once a month. While this will be an investing blog, it is likely that we venture off into other random topics! We will also use a conversational tone in our pieces so you can expect things that break traditional grammar rules. We aren't trying to pass English 101 again.

We follow a value investing approach because it is the only type of investing that we think is intelligent over the long-term. If we like and understand a business, and it appears to be selling for much less than it is worth, we will probably buy it.

This blog will not look like most of your typical Wall Street Analyst reports or articles. We try to stay as far away from that as we can.

You will see us talk about Owner Earnings (OE) quite often. Owner Earnings is the figure that we use for profits. It is a metric that is not widely used in the financial community, but we believe is the figure that shows the most accurate picture of a business’s profits. Warren Buffett explains Owner Earnings in the 1986 Berkshire Hathaway Chairman’s Letter. Explained simply, it is the cash that the business generates (Cash from Operations) minus the capital expenditures that must be spent to maintain the businesses competitive position (Maintenance CAPEX). The second part can oftentimes be hard to figure out, but we would rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong, which could happen if we just used Net Income.

We will give full disclosure at all times.

All errors (there will be some) are the authors.

Enjoy!

This blog does not make any investment recommendations. Do your own research! An article or blog post cannot possibly contain all the information needed to make an investment decision.

www.delphivalueinvestments.com

anthony@delphivalueinvestments.com